2 points for Mixed 2 on a rainy afternoon

Mixed 1 faced a daunting task against Maidenhead 2 on Saturday. They currently head Division 3B with 9 points having won all of their 12 rubbers and dropping just 2 sets!

Matt Paxton and Jenny Sheppard didn’t really get going against the visiting first pair, losing 1 and 2 while, on the other court, Mark Callaghan and Alison Nicholson had a slow start losing their first set 2-6. However, they improved in the second set, fighting back well but still losing 5-7.

There was a lengthy rain break then but the sun came out after a while and the second rubbers were closer. Nicholson and Callaghan lost the first set to 2 but were much closer in the second set, losing it in the end to 4 against the visiting first pair, just as the heavens opened for a third time. They were happy to get into the clubhouse, but Sheppard and Paxton’s match was left hanging – first set to Maidenhead, 4-6, but 4 all in the second.

So, with thunder and lightning all around, the match was abandoned as a win to Maidenhead.

In Division 4B, Mixed 2 visited Caversham to play their 4th team. Crowthorne pairs took a while to get used to the unfamiliar acrylic courts but Steve Stow and Jenny Partridge, playing as 2nd pair, recovered from 1-4 down to win the first set 7-6 against Mike and Ruth Brooks. Mike Smith and Ravinder Norman lost their first set 2-6 against the young pairing of Angus Adam-Cairns and Hester Kan but, in the second set, they were at 4-4 when heavy rain forced the players indoors.

Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out but the trouble with acrylic courts is that they don’t drain so it took another hour and a lot of action with the squeegees before a resumption was possible. Stow and Partridge quickly re-established their superiority to take the second set 6-1 against the Brooks pairing and win the first rubber for the Crows. Smith and Norman, meanwhile, were putting the home first pair under some pressure, but they held on to 6-all and the match went into a tie-break. This was a close affair but the home pair prevailed to make it 1 rubber apiece. The second round had hardly started when a second bout of rain arrived and tea was taken. With the courts again flooded it was unlikely that any further play would take place on those courts and when one of the Caversham players announced they had to leave for another appointment, the Crowthorne team smiled as the match was abandoned after one round with the visitors ahead by 1 game.